North Caspian Stonechat
Saxicola maurus variegatus
(NB. revised to Saxicola maurus hemprichii Ehrenberg as proposed by Svensson, Shirihai, Frahnert & Dickinson 2012**)

(Above) Irkayya Farm, Qatar, 19 February 2013 (EOS 7D, 300mm f2.8 + 2x Extender)

A long-time 'target' bird for me, and the first record of this form in Qatar. Coincidentally, one has been present for a few weeks in Dhahran, Eastern Province, KSA (JB, pers comm.) which is not too far away as the crow flies.

**Postnote : Thanks to Mike Blair who provided a copy of Svensson, Shirihai, Frahnert & Dickinson's paper Taxonomy and nomenclature of the Stonechat complex Saxicola torquatus sensu lato in the Caspian region (Bull. B.O.C. 2012 132(4), 20 April 2012) in which:

• Saxicola [maurus] variegatus is geographically monikered as 'NCT' (for 'North Caspian Taxon') and the new scientific name Saxicola maurus hemprichii Ehrenberg is proposed
• Saxicola [maurus] armenica is geographically monikered as 'SCT' (for 'South Caspian Taxon') and the new scientific name Saxicola maurus variegatus S. G. Gmelin is proposed

So, the proposal is that the sub-specific suffix variegatus is transferred from Caspian Stonechat (the northern form) to Armenian Stonechat (the southern form), with hemprichii being adopted for the northern (white-tailed) form!